Overnight to the Cook Islands and a Credit Card Spreadsheet

Some will remember that I work causally for a company that provides medical retrieval and repatriation to persons in need of medical assistance. This job has offered me many memorable journeys. Recently while I was on “uni holidays” (i.e., winter break from law school), I received a text message seeking a nurse who could go to the Cook Islands with an incredibly quick turn-around. Having no commitments in my schedule, I jumped on the opportunity to get another stamp in the passport.

When someone needs medical assistance to travel, there are a number of ways to do it depending on the circumstance in which the person can be moved. In emergency situations, the most common forms of transport are ambulance for short distances and helicopter for more intricate or emergent scenarios (yet within a small radius). In a more accessible world, emergent evacuations can be done in converted/outfitted prop planes for mid-range distances, and small jet aircraft for longer distances. Lastly, when someone requires assistance in a non-emergent setting, commercial aircraft can be utilized and outfitted to move people long-range.

The work I have done has been mostly international travel to and from Australia. I’ve done some jobs with the converted small jet as well as a handful via commercial carriers. The South Pacific Islands are popular holiday destinations for Australians due to their proximity. Unfortunately, people do get sick or injured while on holiday. Over the past few years, I’ve been to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Fiji, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia. When the text came through for a commercial airline job to the Cook Islands, I was happy to put my hand up.

Travel insurance companies organize the repatriation of the ill or injured and organize the travel itineraries based on the needs of both the medical staff and the patient. Due to the limited flight schedule to Raratonga, in the Cook Islands, I was in for a tiring trip: Sydney to Auckland to Raratonga departing 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sydney time, arriving 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Raratonga time — same day! I crossed four times zones and the International Date Line. I met with my patients and confirmed that they were fit to fly with a departure time of 8 a.m. Tuesday. Time zones definitely have the ability of really messing with your internal clock. I went from Raratonga to Auckland (crossing the IDL again, arriving in Auckland on Wednesday) to Melbourne to a local hospital, then I was back out to Melbourne airport for a flight back to Sydney. I arrived back at my door at 9 p.m. Wednesday. Thankfully, the journey was uneventful except for Tuesday lasting exceptionally long.

I now have a passport stamp from the Cook Islands and a pretty decent photo from the plane. I’d like to take this time to reiterate: Make sure you travel with decent health insurance. I’ve heard horror stories about people being unable to be evacuated because they were not carrying travel insurance. The chances of actually needing to use it may be slim, but every single one of the people I’ve escorted home has been exceptionally grateful for having coverage.

Semester has started again so my chances of darting off into the Pacific in the next few months is unlikely. But you better believe come my next uni holiday, I’ll be anxiously waiting to see where I go next: Samoa, Nuie, Nauru, Micronesia, Tonga, or the Marshal Islands?

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I completely agree. With AA's logo plastered all over the eShopping site as well as the treatment it receives on the AAdvantage main page it's rather ridiculous for American Airlines to make the argument that the eShopping portal falls outside its domain. I think a lot of people make purchases through the portal under the impression that American Airlines, and not some relatively unknown and, perhaps, incompetent third party, will deliver the promised miles.

Anonymous

"If American can't or won't step up to bat with this, I have made my last purchase on their shopping mall. "

With all due respect, I think this is a load of bull.

Anonymous

I don't think so. This site was never AA, even a few years ago when run by someone else. Same goes for the other airlines.

Everyone KNEW these miles wouldn't post. They were just worried about missing out on the next pudding. If backed into a legal corner, the most you would get is a refund of your purchase price. That is the legal remedy, nothing more. Anyone who didn't realize this should have at least realized that it's common knowledge these sites have clauses to get them out of typos like this.

Anonymous

I gotta side with American here. I've always felt it was pretty clear that the AA is not responsible for the AAdvantage Shopping portal. To me this is no different than Citi, Rewards Network, Opinion Survey, or even Points.com screwing up miles through their respective AA-related programs. In none of those cases would I hold AA responsible.

ArizonaGuy

The words 'horse' and 'excrement' come to mind. We all want our 83871 miles per item or at least order. That's a fight, sure. But I would expect the parties involved with the largest in name recognition would make some serious good will gesture. Pathetic.

Glenn

since AA won't even honor fares they sold on their own website for CX F class, why would anyone believe that they will do anything in this case to step up for their marketing partner's error?

JohnnieD

What I find most fascinating is that these shopping 'portals' are third party vendors who give whatever amount of miles out they feel like. They are actually buying the miles from the airlines much in the same way as the credit card companies do. I'll bet this arrangement is quite the cash cow for the airlines, probably second to the credit card companies……

Anonymous

At this point I'm too busy to fight the good fight for the 83k miles. So I'm more interested in getting my 2500 plus 2500 for both my wife and myself, and waiving my restocking fee on the headphones. Still trying to figure out if that will even happen and how best to fight it. The 83k miles was a pipe dream that I couldn't help but go along with.

Anonymous

American Airlines will not lose credibility to Joe Average American over this fiasco. Joe Average will still fly American Airlines.

I would hope that American Airlines relies very little on whatever revenue they generate through this eShopping portal, so if they lose business over that, it should be water under the bridge for them.

If one feels that American Airlines is at fault or that they should accept responsibility and is now choosing to absolve themselves, why not make a bolder statement and say American Airlines will no longer have my business, I will not fly with them, I will not participate in their miles program, etc?

It seems as though people have lost any common sense they had.

Aaron R

To take a middle road between the "they are BS" and the "your calling them BS is BS" approaches:

I did not expect AA to immediately provide me or anyone else with 83871 miles. That much is clear. What I do expect is at least a modicum of ownership on their part, or at least an expression of interest in its resolution, given what, as Kevin says, is very prominent promotion of this service.

It strikes me as highly disingenuous to promote a service, brand it with your name and logo, but then completely disavow ALL responsibility for it when an error arises. I am the first to admit that it did look too good to be true. Even just an admission from them that they need to be more careful with their contractors would be a step in the right direction.

You can't be angry if you don't get your 83871 miles. You can be angry if a brand you trust (AA) acts in a way meant to encourage your trust (putting their logo on things), but then does not treat you with respect when you trust them.

Anonymous

This reminds me of years ago when I was working at Target and target.com was really just an Amazon.com storefront with more red on it.

Customers would come in saying "I saw this online" or "it was this price online" and I was the one who had to bear the brunt of informing them that target.com had NOTHING to do with Target stores aside from the logo. It was a completely separate entity that did not abide by the same pricing or return policies yet the Target Corporation never made this clear or informed their customers that they were only running target.com to make money. They had no responsibility to integrate the two selling fronts and instead all the employees had to deal with the issue.

If these companies want to be greedy they need to step up to the plate and deal with these issues if they put their brand on something.

Ozaer

So did anyone get anything outta this? (other than the 83K miles)………I never received any emails from them or anything..my card got charged and my battery charger got shipped to the house.

Anonymous

This was clearly a mistake. Anyone with a bit of common sense could see that. I just don't see how AA loses any credibility when the vendor has agreed to accept refunds free of charge and provide some bonus miles as an apology.

This episode makes no difference to me in terms of AA's credibility or my future use of AAdvantage eShopping website.

Those who are looking for 83K miles go on my list of greedy people I don't want to do business with.

Anonymous

Hi Rick – long time reader here and buyer of your book.

Just some friendly advice…let this be. In my opinion you're really starting to look like a fool based on your multiple postings about the subject and your posts on FlyerTalk. You're getting to the point (at least in my mind) where you're starting to lose some real creditably.

Cartera is offering 2500 free miles ($50 value) and you can return your items to a local Verizon store for a full refund and no restocking fee. $50 for a couple minutes of work. That's not bad at all.

Say you have a misprint on your blog – instead of "30,000 SPG BUSINESS CARD LIMITED TIME OFFER NO FIRST YEAR FEE" you type "300,000 SPG BUSINESS CARD LIMITED TIME OFFER NO FIRST YEAR FEE". Is American Express responsible for this mistake? No they're not. You are. Why is AA then responsible for the mistake Cartera Commerce made?

I implore you…please please please give it a rest. You're better than this.

Anonymous

That's funny American Airlines. If they are not affiliated with your company, why is AAdvantage eshopping featured on your website as part of the airline for earning more miles. Total horse crap from American!!

Anonymous

It's too bad that AA and other airlines continue to associate with a company as poorly run as Cartera. This is just the latest in an ongoing saga of mismanagement of the shopping portals. That Cartera has yet to address this issue with all people involved (I know for fact as I made orders and have yet to hear word one from them) shows that they either simply don't care or they're so incompetent as to not have -any- clue what to do right now.

It's not that I expect to get the miles, but I do expect them to address it with me vs my having to chase them down. THEY made the mistake and THEY need to take ownership for it in some fashion.

Anonymous

Gotta side with AA on this one. What if the typo was 83 million instead of 83 thousand miles? Would they lose credibility if they decided not to give people free flights for life for buying a phone case? Sorry people make mistakes and I can't say that trying to exploit those mistakes is the right thing to do.

Anonymous

To expect a vendor to honor what is almost certainly a mistake is not really reasonable. Say you walked into Nordstrom and they had a Hickey Freeman suit marked at $129, and the rest were at $1,299. Would you really expect Nordstrom to sell you the suit at the lower price? Indeed they might, if you made a big enough fuss I suppose, and given Nordstrom's laudable customer service reputation. But is it reasonable and fair for you to pursue such an "opportunity"?

ArizonaGuy

Argh. There is no restocking fee on anything but wireless devices (phones, tablets, mifi's). I wish this falsehood would stop being perpetuated.

Anonymous

AA makes money off of the portal. Verizon makes money off of the portal. That is the bottom line. Their reputations are tarnished when they practice deceptive marketing and don't admit fault. AA's name is all over the misleading shopping portal, thus my trust in AA has greatly decreased.

Senorric a.k.a. Rich A.

Interesting how many of the individuals with the name of "Anonymous" seem to be siding with AA and their third party vendors. Anonymity is easy to hid behind ——

Anonymous

Verizon's paperwork says returns must occur in ten days. That gives me four days, depending on how you count. What are folks doing outside of arguing about the miles? Are you all returning the items?

Anonymous

Those writing letters and contacting AA should be forced to bay $83,000.00 for their actions. Then they would shut-up about the matter.

They are complaining a "cry wolf". Wait 'til it bites them in the ass. NO ONE IS GETTING ANY MILES.

To Senorric a.k.a. Rich A. said…

Anonimity is a 2-way street. Those claiming to want AA miles for purchases used an anonymous board to screw the system. Guess what, you're getting nuttin'

Melissa

FYI paperwork with my hockey puck it says 14 days for returns, so we have a few more days to see how things pan out…

Aaron R

Anonymous @ 5:00 pm or so – so far I have not heard ANYTHING from Verizon, AA, or the vendor saying anything about anything. So, it isn't just that they are communicating and saying "sorry" – I would accept that, even, although I'd be disappointed. I've got nothing to go on here.

Anonymous

I'm really disappointed that everyone really expected miles out of this. Come on folks. Even the oldest Flyertalker knows that wasn't going to happen. Blaming American Airlines for this is just silly!

dhammer

An intermittent reader

How many of you that are "outraged" would honestly not shop at this AA mall again if they offered 200 miles per dollar spent or similar? This offer was more like a lottery ticket, you knew it was too good to be true, it didn't pay off, so just move on to the next deal.

Chappy

In regards to the Nordstrom's example, the company would sell you the suit. This exact situation happened to me. I tried on a coat that was beneath a great price (60% off a Pea coat? Absolutely!). When I got to the register and the price was different, I kindly protested. The manager saw the error, sold me the coat at the advertised price, and promptly told the associate to change the price (so they would no longer sell the coat at an incorrect price). But they sold me the price that was advertised…so yes it happens.

AA should have done something to rectify the situation. Not 83k points, but some sort of compensation.

Anonymous

"Senorric a.k.a. Rich A." is just about informative a handle as "Anonymous"…

Solomon S Neuhardt II

As a lawyer, this galvanizes me to want to fight for the miles. The website is an AA website. The site proudly displays how many miles you will receive for each item for dollars spent.

Its a farce to believe that there is NO agreement between AA and the retailers regarding how many miles are awarded for a purchase. Verizon isnt giving me miles for buying something through the AA website. According to AA I am supposed to call Verizon about where my miles are. Verizon? A cell company.

I receive letters from insurance companies almost daily denying responsibility for actions of their insured. I file a lawsuit and suddenly their tune changes.

Anonymous

Wow, people are being a little hyperbolic on this. Did people really think that cartera or AA was going to give away something like $1000 worth of miles for a $10 item? Especially when the T&C's of the site that everyone agrees to when signing up and purchasing items states that they don't have liability for pricing mistakes.

I just don't understand why people get so upset when they find an obvious loophole in a system and it either doesn’t get honored or gets quickly closed. Intent does matter in tort law people, to succeed in court you have to get a jury/judge to believe that there is a greater weight of evidence that the firm intended to put that typo out there.

Anonymous

AA has no legal responsibility to issue the miles. That much is clear. A lawyer can fight all he wants but he would be filing a frivolous lawsuit. The only point of the lawsuit would be to give AA bad publicity and hope that AA will offer a remedy to avoid the bad publicity. So the lawyer would be using valuable public resources (the court system) for a lawsuit that he knows has no legal merit. Unfortunately, under our current system, filing a frivolous lawsuit has no consequence for the party that filed it.

Anonymous

NO amount of T&C's can get you out of federal and state consumer protection laws articles(dot) mplans(dot)com/consumer-protection-laws-and-deceptive-marketing/Forget about tort laws or the 83K offer for a second. It is the deceptive marketing that is the problem here. According to AAdvantage eShopping, even the 13 MILES that were promised when you clicked on the "Show Details" link were not going to be awarded since they were for wireless accessories. How is that NOT deceptive?

Anonymous

Solomon S Neuhardt II said…As a lawyer, this galvanizes me to want to fight for the miles.

As another lawyer, I can claim that you are a bad lawyer (See § Up yours).

Anonymous

You are fully of bs hipocrit.

Anonymous

I won't pretend that AA's failure to make good (at least partially) on this offer will make me implement a lifelong boycott of the airline, but it will leave a source taste in my mouth. Now if i see two prices equal or at least within $50 or so I'm going to go with the other airline from now on. Now, if AA takes care if us on this, they've earned a customer in the same way…

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